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Andrew Miller is apparently drawing a lot of interest with the Braves the team most interested.

I liked Farrell's comments about Carp. Basically he said that he respected Carp's desire to play more often. Seems like Carp has handled this request the right way. I'd love to see him get a shot somewhere. I wouldn't be at all shocked if he did what Brandon Moss has done the last couple of years.

Seems like he'd be a great fit in Seattle. Not sure how the park would affect his power but I have to think he'd be an upgrade over some of their corner bats.

Well he's spent the majority of MLB career there and wasn't especially great. But...if you're competing against the remains of Corey Hart and Justin Smoak and so forth, yeah, pretty much anyone is an upgrade.

Is this supposed to be a crack about a team with a better record than the Red Sox?

It's a crack about Carp getting released and getting a AAA contract. With Ike Davis doing so well with the Pirates I figure a AAA flyer with them could be a possibility. So.......don't be so touchy. :p

He needn't worry, you mean.

Yes, I caught it and winced. That will teach me to post while not thinking.

Could happen. Teams are stupid when it comes to DH/1B OPS+ 95-100 types. They think they're a dime a dozen and then they go out and get a season of 60 OPS+ out of their DH or...start an 85 OPS+ catcher at 1B.

It's easy to see where Carp is coming from - he had his best season by far last year at age 27. He probably figures that if he could have another year like that he could get a full time job somewhere for real money. Instead, he has taken a step back and probably fears falling back into the category of a fringe major leaguer again.

I'm not sure why it was necessary to go to the media with this. What is Carp's motivation? To make sure it happens?

The Sox (specifically Farrell) have made it clear that Carp went to them first. Farrell said flat out on the pre-game show yesterday that he had no issue with Carp and respected his desire to play more. He was not so generous when discussion Doubront who evidently went to the media first.

I'm not sure why it was necessary to go to the media with this. What is Carp's motivation?

It's not clear to be that he went "to the media" with it. It's entirely possible they went to him, and he answered honestly.

What I don't like is that basically he and Doubront are saying the same things - I don't like the role I'm in, and it doesn't seem like that's changing with this team, so I spoke with the team about finding me a place where I can do the role I want - but Doubront is being painted as immature while Carp is painted as professional.

With Dempster's retirement, Doubront was the obvious #5 behind Lackey, Lester, Buchholz, and Peavy. Despite there not being a rotational spot until Dempster retired at the start of spring training, he worked hard in the offseason to be ready for a starter's role. He was put in that role and had 9 starts, doing about what you'd expect from a #5, before suffering a shoulder injury. He missed a month, and has mostly been in the bullpen since then, despite the team having since traded away one of the other 4 starters.

Carp, OTOH, was a platoon-hitting 1B/DH on a team with very good 1B/DH players. He had limited playing time last year, and he was OK with that; and he was also OK going into the same role this year. His playing time has been down because of an injury, but he is in fact in the same role he was in last year. And he's now expressing displeasure about being in this role.

For certain, Doubront has shown some immaturity before. But it bugs me that the one who is being jerked around the roster is being considered immature for not accepting his current assignment, while the one who knew exactly what he was getting into is somehow taking the high road by expressing his displeasure.

I'm surprised Doubront is still not in the rotation, with Peavy's departure. That does seem like an insult. Instead, they brought up Allen Webster, the prize of the Nick Punto trade. Who has been good in Pawtucket, albeit Anthony Ranaudo has been better.

The team is in last place, if they don't like Doubront long-term they could at least be showcasing him for a trade.

I'm surprised Doubront is still not in the rotation, with Peavy's departure. That does seem like an insult. Instead, they brought up Allen Webster, the prize of the Nick Punto trade. Who has been good in Pawtucket, albeit Anthony Ranaudo has been better.

The team is in last place, if they don't like Doubront long-term they could at least be showcasing him for a trade.

Doobs has pitched over 400 innings and has a career ERA of 4.70. He has been horrible this year. He's earned his demotion. "Showcasing him for a trade" only works if he doesn't go out and get hammered and I wouldn't want to bank on that.

Doobs has pitched over 400 innings and has a career ERA of 4.70. He has been horrible this year.

Has he been? He has a career ERA just under 4.50 as a starter. And his ERA this year as a starter was 4.54 before he got injured.

They asked him in the offseason to stay in shape. He did. They asked him to allow more BIP, to keep his pitch count low so he could go deeper into games. He has. As a starter his K rate and BB rate have both dropped (although the former more than the latter) and his HR rate has been stable. Team defense in his starts has been bad.

A 4.50 ERA is not good for a starter. But it's not bad, especially for a #5 starter. The problem is that with the way Peavy and Buchholz have pitched, they've needed Doubront to pitch like a #3 starter. And it hasn't happened.

That said I still don't think Doubront deserves a rotational spot on this team over any of the incumbents. (Maybe over Webster.) But that just underscores his frustration. He has done what they asked, and gotten commensurate results in general, yet he's been squeezed out. If I were him I'd be frustrated.

Has he been? He has a career ERA just under 4.50 as a starter. And his ERA this year as a starter was 4.54 before he got injured.

They asked him in the offseason to stay in shape. He did. They asked him to allow more BIP, to keep his pitch count low so he could go deeper into games. He has. As a starter his K rate and BB rate have both dropped (although the former more than the latter) and his HR rate has been stable. Team defense in his starts has been bad.

I think that's a bit kinder to Doubront than is accurate. I'm not sure why you aren't counting that last start before he went on the DL which moves that ERA to 5.12. In general the results match the components. It's great that he was in shape this year and he has been more efficient but in the end he is a fly ball pitcher who is worse than average in both K rate and BB rate. That's not getting it done.

I have no problem with him wanting a trade, I don't really like how he seems to have handled it but I have no problem with him wanting to start. As you note though he doesn't deserve to start. He is not one of the five best starters on the Red Sox.

Seems like the Brewers would be a good match for Carp and Miller. Any ideas about what they would want for one or both of them? The Crew's farm system isn't good but I assume they could come up with a few long-shot prospects.

Miller seems to be generating a fair amount of interest. I'd rather the Sox re-sign him than trade him. I think Andrew Miller the next two years is going to be worth more than whatever prospect they get for him. The Sox should be expecting to contend next year.

This disastrous season just highlights what an anomaly 2013 was and why I don't give Cherington that much credit for it. And why I find talk of which collection of individuals are Winners and which are Losers to be utterly silly. Absolutely everything had to go right last year, and it did. In 2012 and 2014 it's all gone wrong. But this is the same core of players, by and large.

Doobs has pitched over 400 innings and has a career ERA of 4.70. He has been horrible this year. He's earned his demotion.

Except that he has shown the potential to be good with some improvement/adjustment, and since the team is going nowhere they really should be finding out if he can take a step forward.

That they're not committed to doing so is a failure of management. As they failed by signing Drew and moving Bogaerts off of his position (though I give them credit for sticking with Bradley). Everyone looks like a genius when the team is winning. When it's not... not so much.

Except that he has shown the potential to be good with some improvement/adjustment, and since the team is going nowhere they really should be finding out if he can take a step forward.

I don't know, at some point you have to turn potential into results, and Doubront just hasn't been able to. He's lost 3MPH off his fastball over the past two years, and with it now under 90 MPH I just don't think that's 'take a step forward' material. If the Red Sox didn't have any better options, sure, let him try to figure something out, but since they do it's more important to see what the AAA guys can do at this point.

Except that he has shown the potential to be good with some improvement/adjustment, and since the team is going nowhere they really should be finding out if he can take a step forward.

Well yeah if he gets better he'll be better. I don't think there is anything in Doubront to make me think he is likely to be any more than a 4th/5th starter. That has value but the Sox have a bunch of guys who have a shot to be more than that who should get a shot before Doobs. I'd rather see Webster, Ranaudo or Workman than Doubront at this point.

I'm not sure why you aren't counting that last start before he went on the DL which moves that ERA to 5.12.

Because he injured his shoulder on Monday, then pitched that outing on Tuesday, and had to be taken out because of injury. I mean, it's part of the historical record that he pitched poorly in that outing, but in terms of how a healthy Doubront was faring as a starter, that outing wasn't part of it. And it's that question - how was he faring as a starter? - that relates to whether he earned a demotion. (It's not the only thing, but it's a key piece.) Unless you're saying he earned a demotion because he got injured, which wasn't what I thought you were saying.

I'm more on the fence on how his lone start a month later should be considered. In theory he was healthy for that start, but in reality he'd been on the DL for a month with a shoulder injury prior to that, and I don't have a good sense of how much we can rely on "first start after DL stint for a shoulder injury" to tell us what he's capable of. Typically I wouldn't consider it material.

As you note though he doesn't deserve to start. He is not one of the five best starters on the Red Sox.

He's not one of the two best options beyond Lester, Lackey, and Buchholz, none of whom are moving out of the rotation barring injury or trade.

It's not clear to me that he'd be worse than Buchholz this season, which means Doubront might actually be one of the five best starters on the Red Sox this year. But I wouldn't start him ahead of Buchholz.